I don't really think Hong Kong belongs on this list right now. It's got a strong financial services industry and it used to have a massive entertainment industry (much truncated now), but it's not in the same overall tier the other four are.

Yeahh I know but this isn't about which ones are the most important, that one was covered in the last thread that had 4/5 of these cities. This time it's just a different sort of comparison altogether.

This time around, it's just about preference of where to live. No restrictions or barometers, just all preference.

It's not a fine town, what fine town has 4k folks every decade being shot to death? The UK has 350 as a country in a decade and Japan has 30 compare that to the dumps 4k.

Well yeahhh, no duhhh crime is an issue there and one of which that turns me away from it but it's concentrated crime in pockets of the city. I'm sure you can live in Queens Village, Chestnut Hill, Gladwyne, Villanova, Center City, Ritten House Square, Society Hill in the Philadelphia area and not have anything happen to you.

However on an overall basis, I don't care about the city too much and it's not really a place that registers for me on my priority list for "living" in.

I prefer cities with architecture from late 20th century & 21st century:

These are just some of my many interests, a perfect city for me doesn't exist-- at least none of which I know about. I usually go off of places that have as much of my interest as possible, obviously no where is perfect. I'm aware that my interests are strange and that I'm a strange person, even I understand that. All of these interests to me come before history more so. Philadelphia's a great city for people that like history-- for historians and those that love American architecture from the 17th, 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. It's also a great city for those that want to live in a large metropolis (6.5 million people) and pay very fair housing prices while still getting an absolutely stellar location out it. Lastly, it's also a wonderful place for people that love American culture and an "American cultured" city out of their living experience.

However for me personally, while I acknowledge it for the great attributes it does have-- there are far and few things my interests have in common with Philadelphia.

By no means does that make it a bad city but to me and my interests, an average one.